'Single Magic Mushroom Can Change Personality'

[Corncrake]

I found this article in a 2011 edition of the Independent: unusual to find the MSM publishing anything positive about hallucinogens:

*********

Forty-five years after Timothy Leary, the apostle of drug-induced mysticism, urged his hippie followers to "turn on, tune in and drop out", researchers have found that magic mushrooms do change a user's personality – for the better.

The fungi have long been known for their psychedelic effects, but far from damaging the brain, the hallucinogenic drug they contain enhances feelings and aesthetic sensibilities, scientists say. The study, at Johns Hopkins University of Medicine in Baltimore, found that a single dose of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, was enough to cause positive effects for up to a year. "Psilocybin can facilitate experiences that change how people perceive themselves and their environment," said Roland Griffiths, a study author and professor of psychiatry and behavioural science at Johns Hopkins. "That's unprecedented."

Users who had a "mystical experience" while taking the drug showed increases in a personality trait dubbed "openness", one of the five major traits used in psychology to describe human personality. Openness is associated with imagination, artistic appreciation, feelings, abstract ideas and general broad-mindedness. None of the other four traits – extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness and conscientiousness – was altered.

Under controlled scientific conditions, researchers gave 51 adults either psilocybin or a placebo in up to five eight-hour sessions. They were told to lie on a sofa with their eyes covered and listen to music while focusing on an "inner experience".

Their personalities were screened after each drug session and also about a year later. Of the 51, 30 had a mystical experience, after which their openness scores rose, and remained higher for up to a year after the tests. The 21 who did not have a mystical experience showed no change.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/single-magic-mushroom-can-change-personality-2363324.html

[tnkayaker]

I found this article in a 2011 edition of the Independent: unusual to find the MSM publishing anything positive about hallucinogens:

*********

Forty-five years after Timothy Leary, the apostle of drug-induced mysticism, urged his hippie followers to "turn on, tune in and drop out", researchers have found that magic mushrooms do change a user's personality – for the better.

The fungi have long been known for their psychedelic effects, but far from damaging the brain, the hallucinogenic drug they contain enhances feelings and aesthetic sensibilities, scientists say. The study, at Johns Hopkins University of Medicine in Baltimore, found that a single dose of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, was enough to cause positive effects for up to a year. "Psilocybin can facilitate experiences that change how people perceive themselves and their environment," said Roland Griffiths, a study author and professor of psychiatry and behavioural science at Johns Hopkins. "That's unprecedented."

Users who had a "mystical experience" while taking the drug showed increases in a personality trait dubbed "openness", one of the five major traits used in psychology to describe human personality. Openness is associated with imagination, artistic appreciation, feelings, abstract ideas and general broad-mindedness. None of the other four traits – extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness and conscientiousness – was altered.

Under controlled scientific conditions, researchers gave 51 adults either psilocybin or a placebo in up to five eight-hour sessions. They were told to lie on a sofa with their eyes covered and listen to music while focusing on an "inner experience".

Their personalities were screened after each drug session and also about a year later. Of the 51, 30 had a mystical experience, after which their openness scores rose, and remained higher for up to a year after the tests. The 21 who did not have a mystical experience showed no change.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/single-magic-mushroom-can-change-personality-2363324.html

well this is what i know from first hand experience with this "wonderful" fungi, i am from florida originally, and in my early experimental times and in meeting new friends and thinking i had made some good friends along the way, what i found is there are alot of smack talking hippy's that swear all this peace and love and the only thing they are doing in regards to growing spiritually is smoking alot of pot and spreading the word that, God made them free so its Gods wish we ingest them.......mushrooms that is, ok so i tried them quite a few times along the way, and this is what i know, they are way too difficult to predict dose wise, the trip is usually over wrought with feelings of wanting to be in a safe place in one is not at home or in a safe place when you start to trip, i know one time i got a few caps from a buddy and paid him for them then when they hit it was way too much and i was stuck in my VW bus laying down as i coudlnt deal with anything or anyone , now the trip in my head was kind of interesting, flying through graphics with music of all kinds playing in the background, kind of like watching m-tv (back in the day) lol and watching some graphic movie that kept going and going but then i would hear people talking outside of my bus and freak thinking it may be the un friendly's on to me, i could not drive what so ever, so i was stuck sleeping it off until i could drive home and get to my safe place, now to add to this, i had a few close friends along the way that swore their undying friendship to me and vis versa , one buddy and myself actually did the blood brother oath and cut our palms and swore undying love and friendship, then he met these hippy chicks from washington with a box of dried mushrooms and he was so messed up he ended up stealing my tool trailer , ( our tool trailer) which was mine before taking him on as a partner and sharing my work with him so he could make some money, then he took my trailer and tools and re tagged in as in fla. this is easily done, and took off out to colorado with my trailer and tools of which i couldnt get back from him, never to be seen again, now im not saying it was the caps that did it ,but he was into psychedelics so thats what i experienced and if that wasnt enough the nearly exact same thing happend to me again, similar situation with paper this time instead of caps, but again a met a friend and we became close friends and he got ahold of some laced paper with chemicals on it and off he went, then he changed, and NOT for the better, for the person he was i feel, a person with inner issues that exposed themselves as his true nature, which was to lay around playing music all day and not showing up to work anymore, ( a company we started together) and leaving me with a load of crap to finish up work wise while he went off camping and playing hooky and lying about everything, we no longer are friends either, so you can think what you want about psychedelics but unless you are in a secure environment and around people you know and trust, be careful, not that i havent had a few good trips but that was few and far between, and seeing the fact i havent tripped very much, it seems to me the less enjoyable trips far outweighed the good ones, kinda sucks really, now i will say mdma changed my heart center and helped me deal with alot of pent up negativity but i have turned that page and now am drug free, i do have a beer now and then but i rarely over do it, i enjoy the feeling of being rested in the morning way more than feeling like **** after drinking too much lol , stay well guys, peace,dennis

[ThePythonicCow]

well this is what i know from first hand experience ...
That last post was written like you were still under the influence of something :).

Some paragraphs, complete sentences, clearer focus and closer editing could help produce posts that are more useful to others :).

[music]

What is not made clear is whether the 30 who had mystical experiences leading to increased "openness" scores all had the drug, whether all who had the drug had mystical experiences, and whether any of those given the placebo had mystical expreiences and/or increased "openness". Seems a fairly important point to me. Any mention of the shill and agent Leary heightens my awareness, I may be being too critical. Drugs are not necessary for inner experiences that lead to more openness, though contextually, this article implies that they are.

[Flash]

Usually music, when researchers give their conclusion, they talk about the result following the hypothesis, not about the control group. The control group is there just for comparison.

If they say 30 out of 57 had mystical experience while under, it is those that were having the active drug, not the placebo. This is how those science article are written usually.

If there were any with the placebo having mystical experience, usually, researchers would mention it as a comparison. Same for personality changes.

So we can easily and most probably assume they are talking about the mystical experience and the lasting personality changes amongst those who had the active drug, the mushrooms.


Now, in conclusion,

Well, I have to go at it again, 25 years later......., since I had not fried my brain but made it some good.;)

[foreverfan]

Living in southern Louisiana which has the perfect environment for these mushrooms to grow naturally right out of cow dung, I've experienced the mushroom more that a few times back in the 70's. It was always the most unreal experience. LSD woke up the whole hippie generation and TPTB spend years trying to put the cap back on that genie's bottle.

I never had a bad experience and always felt closer to the source although I never understood what that really meant. I will say one thing... the sex was incredible. When you achieved... your whole head lit up with color rainbows that didn't stop for 10 minutes. LOL

http://hikehalfdome.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/magic-bus.jpg


MUST WATCH VIDEO

JOLmzU6OX8Q

[Youniverse]

I've never used any entheogens and have led a relatively drug-free life, if you don't count alcohol and the odd prescription drug. I don't want to get into a debate here about what is or isn't a drug, you guys know what I mean :). However, I am interested in the potential of some psychedelics for the treatment of certain illnesses. I have OCD and frankly some days it's a real pain in the ass. Naturally, unless you have it, you don't really appreciate how difficult it can be. I don't identify myself as an OCD sufferer. That is, I don't think of myself as a guy with OCD, I just carry on doing the best I can as a human being. Anyways, I have heard of promising results in the treatment of OCD with psilocybin. Many people end up being symptom free for months, even years after treatment. Personally, I don't like the idea of having to use a drug to explore mystical realms but to those that have wonderful experiences using them, more power to them. If I ever seriously considered using something like psilocybin it would more likely be for the potential medicinal benefits alleviating OCD symptons. And if I had a life-changing mystical experience I would consider that a bonus!

[Mad Hatter]

ROFLMAO... now tell me something I don't know...

[tnkayaker]

well this is what i know from first hand experience ...
That last post was written like you were still under the influence of something :).

Some paragraphs, complete sentences, clearer focus and closer editing could help produce posts that are more useful to others :). well everyone has the chance to rant once in a while,i was tired after working another 12 hour day , so i apologize for the less than perfect post, what i said is the truth, what put me a bit off was the fact that someone is condoning the use of hallucinogenic substances for those who might choose to change their personality for the better , that simply is not how it is. peace,dennis

[Rocky_Shorz]

I knew a guy who took LSD 25 and he thought he was an orange afraid everyone wanted to squeeze him...

padded cell kind of personality change...

worst I saw on mushrooms was a bunch of guys who kept falling off the logs around the campfire laughing so hard...

noted change, the grins were permanent...

http://www.desktopwallpaperhd.net/wallpapers/8/5/batman-joker-modern-wallpaper-screen-86293.jpg

[music]

Usually music, when researchers give their conclusion, they talk about the result following the hypothesis, not about the control group. The control group is there just for comparison.

If they say 30 out of 57 had mystical experience while under, it is those that were having the active drug, not the placebo. This is how those science article are written usually.

If there were any with the placebo having mystical experience, usually, researchers would mention it as a comparison. Same for personality changes.

So we can easily and most probably assume they are talking about the mystical experience and the lasting personality changes amongst those who had the active drug, the mushrooms.


Now, in conclusion,

Well, I have to go at it again, 25 years later......., since I had not fried my brain but made it some good.;)

Thanks Flash, I know this but have less confidence in the peer-review process. Researchers often omit information that doesn't sit with their hypotheses. I am a scientist myself, have worked with huge datasets and complex software to deal with them, and I know how easy it is for the dishonest to manipulate the input to influence the output. Saying that, this study could well 100% on the level, my comment I guess is directed at the sloppy reporting of it in the media, with no links to primary source material. I tend to question everything if I have no access to primary source :)

[Maunagarjana]

I knew a guy who took LSD 25 and he thought he was an orange afraid everyone wanted to squeeze him...

padded cell kind of personality change...

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me they "knew a guy" who took acid and thought he was an orange. That's the oldest canard in the book when it comes to psychedelics. I've taken LSD at least a hundred times and mushrooms at least fifty (I lost count at some point), I've done a lot of other psychedelics, and I've met a lot of others who have had all kinds of trips, good, bad, fantastic, terrible. I've got some war stories to be sure. One thing is clear to me, that some people (people predisposed to mental illness) should not take them. There are exceptions to this, because they have shown in studies in the past to help with some forms of mental illness.

[norman]

I found this video on my travels :


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc2OYaE9YB8

[donk]

Hallucinogenic experiences are based solely on the user's interior. If there is fear buried, boomers will bring it out. If you are at peace, shoving a quarter down your throat would be overwhelming ecstacy. At the root of all, is only YOU

[778 neighbour of some guy]

Imo, the thread title does not fit the article, "Single magic mushroom can change perspective" would be a better one, again, imo.

"Meeting" a shrooms personality is not a drug experience, its a shared experience, you meet each other, bummer is on the shrooms side, it does not live on to tell about the experience, so it is up to us to share, that is a great responsibility.

I'll leave it at that.

[Octavusprime]

I thoroughly believe psychedelics have had a positive influence on how I perceive the world. I will echo that anyone predisposed to mental illness (schizophrenia, bi-polar, etc) do not take LSD, shrooms, peyote, etc. it can and probably will intensify the issues. For this reason I would caution the poster with OCD.

State of mind and environment are key to successful trips. If you are stressed or unhappy it will translate into a bad experience. But if you are in a stable mental disposition and in a safe welcoming environment with caring people it can be a life changing event.

With all things: moderation is key.

[DeDukshyn]

Converse to common belief psylicibin (or however you spell it) has been eyed a lot in the medical world. It seems to be able to treat all kinds of mental "disorders" with just a single "hit". IIRC, in Canada a couple years back there was a team of doctor's and scientists that were lobbying the Gov't to subsidize research and allow permits for further study. Haven't heard anything since.

I will say though, that experiences from mushrooms vary greatly from mushroom to mushroom, or whatever. I had an experience on Mushrooms once that was so atypical of the traditional mushroom trip, it really made all us participants wonder what we had taken .. (after recovery of course). I will say though that I was forever changed for the better after that trip. My understanding of things grew enormously after and due to that experience. You get to know "reality" a little more, even though we call it the "hallucination"

For those willing to try, do be careful ... and pick the right time and place. If you have kidney issues, don't ever take mushrooms.

[DeDukshyn]

<trim> ...
I never had a bad experience and always felt closer to the source although I never understood what that really meant. I will say one thing... the sex was incredible. When you achieved... your whole head lit up with color rainbows that didn't stop for 10 minutes. LOL

I tried to have sex on mushrooms once ... I was really interested and excited to try it, then halfway through I was thinking "This is just waaay too weird!!", so never finished the task, the feeling with my partner was mutual, she was on them too and felt the same way. I found it really hard to stay focused on the task lol.

[william r sanford72]

growing them is fun and a learning exp all its own.also knowing the source .type and maybe how potent they are helps.makes one feel safer.also lots of kits and guides on how to.and a wide range of spores.also recommend a slight fast..empty the gut..so forth.i benefited greatly.very positive time and enhanced everything 1000times.even the way a leaf blew had a purpose.has a purpose..caution should be taken.great thread.

[Vitalux]

Magic Mushrooms for my own experience were a valuable tool.:fish2:

For those that have never experienced magic mushrooms, giving their opinion would be like someone who has never been in an airplane :plane: trying to give an opinion about how to fly an airplane.

[Soulboy]

One thing is clear to me, that some people (people predisposed to mental illness) should not take them.

I think this is because both, shrooms perhaps not as much as acid obviously, are classed as hyper-stimulants in medical terms. They will literally hyper-stimulate your traits. So, if your traits include mental illness or even instability, well... hyper-stimulating those probably is not a good idea.

It is not for unstable or too young folks that are still growing up, I think. Often people, at least in the UK I have found, use it for dance music parties or other such situations that are very crowded instead of going out into a forest or other outdoor place without many people, which to me is just so wrong. I found it best to experience it out in the wild with close friends that you know well. It's been a long time for me, but would like to experience it again at some point. Also curious about peyote and ayahuasca, but that's another story

[realitycorrodes]

I found that there was something toxic in the mushroom, which the body recognised and saw as a poison, thereby stimulating my sympathetic nervous system - fight and flight. I felt a sense of fear early - especially since the good part of the mushroom is amplifying all sensations especially the sympathetic reaction to the poison. After 45 minutes my body and mind had managed to overcome the influence of the poison and was able to experience a euphoria.

There is as mentioned no control over dose - not good IMHO.

I was left with "anxiety" for 2 years after taking some.

I am sensitive - so it could be a one off.

Clean healthy diet cleared the chemical from the mushroom that was making me anxious out after about 2 years.

There are two things that influence your personality

1. Body chemistry
2. Ability to think logically/mental faculty/wisdom factor

They overlap. There is a two way street.

Many do not understand how the chemistry in their body is extremely powerful - in my opinion could be more powerful than the wisdom factor. So it is wise to maintain "balance" with the chemistry in the body - otherwise one may loose touch with their wisdom factor.

Wisdom factor being more important to me.

Also, I do not use anything now.

When one realises that plain every day reality is the trip.

And how many are programmed to pretend they are not in a state of absolute wonder at their own ability to be conscious in such an experience - makes the wonder holographic.

The problem is fear.

No drugs required to face the fear.

Just will power.

It is not the destination or the journey - its the friends made while on it.

Problem is people are too damn frightened to make friends

and would rather take an unknown chemical/drug/plant in order to get some deep connection with another consciousness

It all seems topsy turvey. Sad even.

We have a natural bliss pathway that gets activated when we connect to another harmonically.

But due to a lack of self realisation we are too frightened to be brutally honest with ourselves to be able to reach the point were we can "effortlessly" connect with anyone at a profoundly deep level.

Anyway I am rambling.

[Nat_Lee]

Living in southern Louisiana which has the perfect environment for these mushrooms to grow naturally right out of cow dung, I've experienced the mushroom more that a few times back in the 70's. It was always the most unreal experience. LSD woke up the whole hippie generation and TPTB spend years trying to put the cap back on that genie's bottle.

I never had a bad experience and always felt closer to the source although I never understood what that really meant. I will say one thing... the sex was incredible. When you achieved... your whole head lit up with color rainbows that didn't stop for 10 minutes. LOL


It makes me whant to try it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hahaaaa.....

[virtusvelox]

Now, in conclusion, Well, I have to go at it again, 25 years later......., since I had not fried my brain but made it some good.;) Precisely where I am at now Flash, the novel becomes the norm, it is as if those same discussions with the entities all those years ago, is yet here and ongoing. I keep mentally referring it to as a quickening.

My NW variety of cubensis, seems to hold all I look for in a committed dose. My hesitation comes from the not having familiarity with this variety. The shrooms I've consumed, I picked off the side of hills in Mexico or had them delivered to me fresh. They were incredible journeys.

I have this 'belief', if you will, that there resides protectors with each group of mind expanding sources. The hongos in the Sierra Madres, by the mother mountains. Cubensis in the NW, the peyote in the SW and many other. I seek the knowledge of my area as well as those that are already familiar with the host in the NW.

[Corncrake]

The English Civil War on magic mushrooms:

cRRvzjkzu2U